


The Sleuth Sisters (season one)

by eDawg



Series: The Sleuth Sisters [1]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:35:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21614686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eDawg/pseuds/eDawg
Summary: Rosa and Amy are the adopted daughters of Raymond Holt and Kevin Cozner. Rosa Diaz was adopted at age one when her parents (colleagues of Kevin’s) die in a car crash. Amy Santiago (who does not have seven brothers) is adopted when she is four and Rosa is five because her (single) dad (who is a colleague of Raymond’s) dies in the line of duty. Neither of them tell people that they are sisters, not because they dislike each other, but because they both feel like they have been living in the other’s shadow their whole lives. But they both respect the hell out of each other even if they have different ways of showing it. Poor Kevin must deal with having three cops in his family.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Kevin Cozner/Ray Holt, Rosa Diaz & Amy Santiago, pre relationship - Relationship
Series: The Sleuth Sisters [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1659214
Comments: 12
Kudos: 152





	1. The one where Everything Begins, and a Family is Formed

When Rosa first met her new little sister, she felt an immediate need to protect her. Amy was crying and seemed so small and lost. She was four years old (a whole year younger than Rosa) and Rosa had been begging her dads for a little sister for a long time now. Kevin (papa) tells Rosa that she is going to get a little sister but to be very gentle with her because her father had just died. Rosa feels sad for her new little sister. She knows that at one time she lost a mom and dad only she doesn’t remember them so it’s not the same.

The two girls share a room. The first night Amy cries and cries. Rosa feels so bad for her, so she gets out of her bed and crawls into Amy’s. She does not say anything but wraps her arms around Amy. After a while Amy nestles into Rosa and falls asleep. Ray and Kevin find them like that the next morning. And though everything was not yet okay they knew that it would be. It warms their heart to see Rosa step into her new role as an older sister.

As Amy starts to settle into her new family Rosa settles into kindergarten. Rosa is not the type of kid who takes direction well. She likes to wreak havoc in the classroom, which is she does because she is supper bored. Kindergarten is too easy for her. She already knows how to read. She knows not only how to count but the pattern of counting, and she knows her shapes and colors. She figures that kindergarten is so easy because her dads are very smart. So, acting out is her way of dealing with the boredom. She plays a game of seeing how far she can push without actually getting in trouble. Her one rule is should she get caught she always owns it. 

Kevin takes Amy to work with him as often as he can not wanting her to feel abandoned. Also, the preschool she goes to is for children of Columbia faculty and staff the same one that Rosa event to. But if the preschool thought that Amy would be anything like her order sister they were mistaken. Amy is good at following the rules, she plays quietly, and she always puts her toys away neatly. Her preschool teacher loves her.

At night after both girls are tucked into bed, Rosa often gets out for her bed and into Amy’s. And they tell each other about everything that is on their mind. Amy talks a lot about how she misses her dad while Rosa wonders what her parents were like. 

“I bet your mom and dad were super cool,” says Amy almost like it’s a secret. 

“All I know is papa work with my mom,” said Rosa sadly.

“That means they must have been really smart,” said Amy with a kind of reverence in her voice. “Which means you must be smart.”

Rosa smiled. Her new little sister was the best sister that she could have hoped for. Even tough they had only been sister for a little over a month she could tell they were going to be close. It made Rosa want to know more about her new little sister.

“What were your parents like?” asked Rosa. Amy’s face which, a few seconds ago was one of awe, changes almost immediately. Her eyes glisten with tears that threaten to fall. On instinct Rosa wraps her arms around Amy. “If you don’t wanna talk about it it’s okay,” she whispers.

“My daddy was a cop,” says Amy in a small voice. “But he died because a bad man shot him at work,” said Amy. Something about what Amy said made Rosa nervous. Her Dad was a cop. What if he was shot by a bad guy like Mr. Santiago was? Rosa didn’t dare say it out loud that might make it too real.

“What if Mr. Ray dies at his job? He’s a cop too,” said Amy.

“Dad’s not going to die at work. He’s not allowed to,” said Rosa. Normally she would have laugh because Amy had called their dad ‘Mr. Ray’ but the thought that her father might be in danger at work had scared her. Then she remembered something.

“Besides, Dad’s in the PR department,” said Rosa.

“What’s PR?” asked Amy. Rosa didn’t really know what PR was, but she did know that whatever it was it made her dad sad because it wasn’t real police work, but she figured that bad guys only shot at real police officers so, that meant that her dad was probably safe, which made her feel happy.

“Dad’s always saying that being in PR is not real police work,” said Rosa. “So, I think he’s safe.” She could see that Amy relaxed a little. Being an older sister was hard work thought Rosa. She smiled at Amy, who was starting to fall asleep. Rosa knew that it was Amy and her to the end of time. Two sisters. Tragedy might have brought them together but at least they had each other. Amy was her little sister, she was going to love her and protect her, Rosa vowed.

“Rosa?” said Amy.

“Yes?” said Rosa.

“I glad I got you to be my older sister,” said Amy right before she falls asleep.

“I glad I get you as my little sister,” whispered Rosa to an asleep Amy. And she is. Rosa thinks how lucky she is that Amy wandered into her life. But she wonders if she should be happy that Amy is now her sister. Because if Amy wasn’t her sister, she would still have her father. But Rosa knew for a fact that she had the best dads ever. The whole situation was very confusing. But Rosa is certain of one thing. That even though her family is not the type of family in the picture books, her family is awesome. And now she gets to share papa and dad with Amy. 

*****

When Rosa gets the job offer of captain, she does not even consider it. New York City is where she belongs and Ropesburg is the most boring town in America, so she does not tell anyone about the job. Not even Amy who she knows would be jealous. Not that she told her little sister everything anymore that would be weird. But if she was going to tell anyone it would be Amy. The point is she had almost forgotten about the Ropesburg Police Captain job until stupid Peralta had to go and print everyone’s search history.

At first Rosa thought that what Peralta had done was hilarious like everyone else. But then Amy had found out that she had been looking at real estate in Ropesburg and all bets were off. If Peralta wasn’t such a god damn good detective Rosa would have hated his childish behavior, but between the goofing around he did some stunning work, so Rosa let herself enjoy his antics. 

It was just after Amy had acted like a weirdo around their father. Rosa had tried to change the subject lighten the mood and brought up Hitchcock’s dumb search history which is how they got to the subject of Ropesburg. She knew that Amy could not help it. She had always felt to need to prove herself to Holt. Rosa thought it had something to do with living with her biological father’s ghost. Her father who had died in the line of duty, was a hero. Holt represented not just her father but the role model and mentor she had lost. 

“Hey, why’d you do a search for ‘magic themed singles night?” asked Rosa. It seemed so unlike Amy and she really wanted to know why her little sister thought that a magic theme singles night could be anything but a disaster. She thought that her sister was smarter than that.

“My last four dates were really boring, so I thought I’d mix thing up,” said Amy. “It did not go well the guys magic trick was to make all of his clothes disappear.”

“Rough,” said Rosa. 

“Yeah. What about you? Why were you looking for real estate in Ropesburg, New Jersey?” asked Amy. 

“Ropesburg P.D. offered me a job as their new police captain I turned it down,” said Rosa.

“Oh! You… captain,” said Amy. “Oh… that’s… supper… super cool…” said Amy before awkwardly pushing off in her roller chair. Rosa watch her go. This was bad, Amy was going to be weird about the whole captain thing for the rest of the day, or who was she kidding? The rest of the month. Amy had never been good at controlling her jealously monster. It didn’t matter that the job wasn’t a good one. All Rosa had to do was get Amy to see that the job offer was not worth being jealous over.

But first they really had to finish their case, which seemed to be going slowly. It didn’t help that for some reason Scully was in the evidence lockup, and Amy was being insufferable. God her little sister was the worst sometimes. Maybe they were due for a little break form each other. Rosa excuses herself with the lame excuse that she needs to go make an itemized list of everything that was stolen. 

A few hours later Rosa hands Amy a piece of paper. “Here’s an itemized list of everything taken form the Garden Apartment,” said Rosa.

“TV, computer… ster-b-io? Uh-oh spelling error. That’s not very captain-y,” said Amy in her most annoying voice. The one she used when she was at her most jealous and nitpicky. Rosa hated that voice. But it gave her an idea.

“Oh, my god, enough.”

“I just think that you meant ‘stereo’ not ‘ster-b-eo’. Did you mean ‘ster-b-eo’, captain?” asked Amy. Rosa was done with this nonsense. She was done with the game Amy was playing.

“That’s it. Get in my car. Now. And if you say another word, I promise you, you will regret it.”

“Aye, aye, cap…” Rosa grabbed Amy by the ear and started to drag her out of the building. Amy’s childish behavior had to end here, and now.

“Ow, okay. Fine I regret it. Ah- I’ll go I’m going,” said Amy.

The car ride over to New Jersey was mostly quiet. Rosa was mad at Amy and had nothing to say to her. And it seemed that Amy was mad at her as well. Which was so stupid. After over an hour of silence Amy finally broke. Rosa always out lasted Amy when it came to awkward silence chicken. 

“What’s going on? Did you drive me out here to kill me?” asked Amy.

“I thought about it, but papa would be so disappointed in me if I killed you,” Rosa deadpanned.

“Ha ha, Rosa. Why did you really bring me all the way out here?” asked Amy.

“I wanted to show you Ropesburg,” said Rosa.

“This is Ropesburg?” said Amy. Rosa could tell that Amy was not impressed with what she was seeing. She knew that her plan was going to work. She loved being right.

“You wanted the offer so badly, I thought I would give you a chance at the job,” said Rosa. Checkmate. She had proven her point. But Rosa was never one to do something by half, so she pulled in front of the police station to further prove to Amy that she had nothing to be jealous about. While they were here, she might as well have a little bit of fun. Make Amy squirm a little.

“This is detective Santiago. She’s one of NYPD’s top detectives. She really wants the job,” said Rosa. The horror on Amy’s face was priceless. As soon as they got in the car to go back to civilized Brooklyn Amy folded.

“Sorry I was acting so weird earlier. I see now that Ropesburg is whack,” said Amy. “I mean there’s a bakery attached to the Precinct.”

“Their number one crime is tricycle theft,” said Rosa with a small smile.

“Not even bicycle theft?” asked Amy. “That’s lame,” added Amy.

“We work at a police force full of dudes. We got to have each other’s backs, okay? You cannot let jealousy blind you to that fact,” said Rosa. Then she added, “Sleuth Sister’s for life.” And this time she actually smiled.

“Sleuth Sister’s for life,” said Amy returning the smile. Rosa felt assured that she had gotten through to Amy. The two of them had gone through so much together sometimes it was nice to be reminded of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks For reading! Please leave feedback in the form of comments and kudos!  
> This Chapter was based on 109 Sal's Pizza written by Lakshmi Sundaram.


	2. the one where a plan is hatched

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunday dinner and active shooter drills.

Every Sunday night the family always gets together for dinner. The tradition started back when Rosa went off to University at NYU. And truth be told it was Rosa’s favorite part of the week. Not that she would ever let anyone know this about her. Her family meant everything to her which was sappy and gross. But still it was true. Many important decisions happened at the Sunday dinner table. Many important stories were told and feeling shared. Plans were hatched.

When Holt’s life had been threatened around Christmas time, the family had, had a mini war council during Sunday night Dinner. Neither Rosa, nor Amy could be in charge of his security because they were family, not that Kevin would in any way allow it to happen so, Holt chose Peralta. When Rosa almost got shot and Boyle saved her life, and Holt almost died and Terry saved his, Kevin had called an ‘Sunday’ dinner so to celebrate everyone being safe. 

When Amy had first transferred to the 99th precinct they had come to the mutual agreement that they would play a game to see how long it would take the squad to figure out they were sisters. Honestly the fact that Amy had kept the secret for so long (over 3 years) was surprising to her. Her sister was not cool under pressure. Then just under a year ago the NYPD had transferred Captain Raymond Holt to the 99 the game had continued. Now there were three players instead of two and Rosa though for sure that Amy would break but, so far she had not.

Tonight, at the family’s weekly dinner the stakes of the game had been raise once more, this time by Kevin. It was almost Ray’s birthday and Kevin had suggested that it might be fun to throw a party with all of his university friends and then at the last minute he, Kevin, would invite the whole squad to the party. It should be fun, if they could pull it off. Rosa was not sure they could keep the ruse up the whole night. A whole lot was riding on Amy’s ability to act.

“What if we make a no shop talk rule? That would ruin all of Peralta’s stories,” said Amy.

“Oh, that’s mean, I love it,” said Rosa. “Amy can do her signature nervous wreck thing,”

“Hey! I can be cool under pressure,” said Amy.

“You quote song lyrics when you’re nervous,” said Rosa.

“That was like one time,” said Amy.

“Girls, we are getting off track,” said Kevin. “When should I send the invitations to the squad?”

“You should send them last minute. Then everyone will think it’s a courtesy and I don’t want them there. This is going to be fun,” said Holt.

“Honestly, dad I didn’t think you would be on board,” said Amy.

“It is good to have a little bit of fun once in a while,” said Holt.

That is how operation ‘Velvet Thunder’ was started. It was not going to be easy but, if they could pull it off it might just be the greatest family game night ever. Rosa was exited to see if their plan would work. Today was when Amy would push over the first domino of the elaborate domino chain the family had set up. It was nail biting, and butterfly in the stomach amount of anticipation for Rosa. 

“The greatest thing that could every happen has just happened,” said Amy. 

“The girl who beat you for high school valedictorian died?” asked Peralta. 

“No ‘Kevin Cozner request your presence at Raymond’s Birthday Party’,” read Amy.

“Who’s Kevin Cozner is he the star of ‘danzes with wolvez?’” asked Jake.

“He’s Captain Holt’s husband. Captain _Raymond_ Holt. We’re invited to the Captain’s birthday party,” said Rosa.

“Oh, the Captain’s party and whatnot,” said Peralta. 

“I can’t wait to see the inside of Raymond’s house. I’m going to learn everything there is to know about him,” said Amy. And damn she was good at this.

“I bet it’s really fancy, like Beauty and the Beast fancy,” said Boyle. Amy nodded her head in agreement. 

“Nah it’s probably just an empty, white cube with a USB port to plug his finger in when he’s on sleep mode,” said Peralta. 

“Apparently, my husband Kevin had invited you all to my party. There is very little street parking, no gifts, no singing of happy birthday. Should be fun,” said Holt before leaving the room.

“Sounds fantastic,” said Amy. 

“Did you hear that? His husband invited us, not him. He so doesn’t want us there,” said Peralta.

“Yes, he does,” said Amy.

“Mmm, it was kind of a last-minute invite. Just stirring the pot,” said Gina. 

“Why wouldn’t Holt want us there?” asked Boyle.

“Because he thinks we’re going to embarrass him in front of his husband. Which frankly is insulting,” said Peralta knocking over his gross blow of cereal in orange soda.

This was going extremely well already. Now the squad was focus on how to be charming and not embarrassing to Holt which, would throw them off the trail of what Rosa, Amy, Holt, and Kevin had in common. As Rosa predicted, Jake first thought was to bring case files into the break room. This party was going to be a train wreck and it was going to awesome.

By afternoon Terry sure that everyone was going to make a fool of themselves (which he should be) calls them into the briefing room to teach them how to act like adults. This might be the highlight of Rosa’s week. Terry ‘Adult Parties” on the board which had launched a discussion about orgies and revealed the information that Scully had meant his wife right after she had walked out of one. Rosa loved her life sometimes. 

The day of the party Rosa goes over to her dads’ house to help them get rid of all of the pictures of her and Amy. They are all over the house and it takes all morning. Amy has work so she cannot help. There are pictures of Rosa at dance recitals and Amy at a spelling bee. The little nerd. On the mantle place was a frame photo of Kevin and her mom and dad. Her mom was holding her as an infant. Also, there was a photo of three-year-old Amy and her bio father. Rosa looked at both of these photos. It was always weird to think about how at one time before her memory she had parents other than Kevin and Ray. Rosa put the pictures back on the mantle where they belonged. 

The whole squad was on time expect Peralta. And when he did show up, he had the same bottle of wine drink as everyone else. Kevin and Ray would hate it. Right from the moment the squad walked into the house it was clear that they were going to make huge fools of themselves and Rosa was here for it. Jake had no idea how to talk about anything other than Die Hard and work. Charles spilled ‘a wonder winter salsa’ on his shirt and Hitchcock and Scully were at their worst. Amy was really tapping into all of her nervous energy and Gina was, well Gina. Rosa felt bad for Terry though he was trying so hard.

After about ten minutes Terry called a team huddled. And from there things spiraled more and more out of control. This might be the best time she had ever had at her dads’ boring parties. Somehow Amy and Jake got the whole squad kicked out the party something about violating the trust by going upstairs, which was a risky move on Amy’s part. After the squad was gone Amy and Rosa headed back to help their fathers clean up after the party.

“So that was amazing,” said Rosa. 

“I feel bad for Terry,” said Amy 

“That Guy? If Terry was a good detective, he would have figured out our secret by now. This is on him,” said Holt. It was a rare moment of visible glee on her father’s face. Maybe this was the best birthday gift they could have given Holt. Holt who was normally so stoic filled with glee. Rosa knew that her father had the tenancy to be competitive, but it was fun to see this side of him come out.

*****

For the first year that Amy lived with her new family she only ever called her fathers, Mr. Ray and Mr. Kevin. It was equal parts cute and heartbreaking. It wasn’t that Amy disliked her new family, it was just that Ray and Kevin did not feel like parents. She already had a father, and he was gone. Forever. She loved her knew family. They were so kind and understanding. And Rosa was the best older sister she could ask for. Maybe it was easier to accept Rosa as a sister because she never had a sister before. Amy got the feeling that her new parents were trying hard not to replace her father, but still it was hard. Amy wondered if it would ever feel normal to call Mr. Ray and Mr. Kevin dad and papa.

But right now, she had other worries. In two days, she was starting kindergarten. What if the other kids didn’t like her? Or worst what if her new teacher didn’t like her? But at least two of her friends from daycare were going to be in her class, and of course Rosa would be at the school, but she would be in the 2nd grade. Her kindergarten teacher thought it would be better for her to skip a grade seeing as she was so bored the year before. Amy hoped to also skip a grade.

As it turned out kindergarten was weird. For some reason the class spent a lot of time learning things that Amy already knew. Things like the alphabet and colors and shapes. But the parts of school that Amy found the strangest were the fire drills and the active shooter drills. Both of them were scary, but the active shooter drill really frightened Amy. Her own father had been shot and killed at work and the idea of someone coming into her school (which she thought of as her job) gave her nightmares.

‘The man who shot her father was behind bars’ Amy thought. ‘This is fake’ was the mantra that she repeated in her head the first time she was forced to sit in a closet in the dark. Over and over but the scary thought that some shadowy figure was going to burst into her classroom and shoot her dead would not go away. The room felt small and she couldn’t breathe. A strangled sob escaped her lips. Later she would learn that she was experiencing a panic attack. But in the moment, it felt like she might die. Her teacher who was worried for her brought a hyperventilating Amy to the nurse’s office. It didn’t take very long for the school nurse to ascertain what had happened.

“Honey I’m going to call one of your parents to come and get you. Do you have preference of who comes and picks you up?” asked the nurse. Amy broke into tears. She wanted her daddy more than she had for a while now. But she managed to get out an answer through her tears.

“Mr. Kevin,” said Amy. 

The nurse called Kevin to come and pick Amy up figuring it would be better to send her home for the day. Kevin who worked at Columbia promised to be over in no more than an hour. When Kevin arrived Amy could hear the two adults talk in hushed tones. She only caught a few of the words they were saying.

Amy was curled up on the couch in the nurses office hugging a stuffed animal. She had stopped crying now but she was still shaken up. Amy was very relieved to see Kevin walk into the room. She got off the couch and threw her arms around him.

“Papa, you made it,” said Amy. Later Kevin would remember that this was the first time that Amy had called him papa instead of Mr. Kevin. But at the moment he is far more concerned with making sure that Amy was okay. 

“Yes, I came as fast as I could,” said Kevin with a slight smile. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,” said Amy.

Kevin thought that maybe some ice cream would be appropriate. He even let Amy have two scoops of ice cream. Kevin found it is easier to have hard conversation over sweat treats. He wanted to hear from Amy what had happened at school. Being an academic Kevin like to know all of the facts. 

“Can you tell me what happened at school today?” asked Kevin very gently. Amy licked her ice cream thoughtfully. She wanted to tell Kevin the truth but she was nervous that he might think she was being a baby.

“We had an active shooter drill,” said Amy very carefully. She wanted to get the facts right. “Ms. Grace told everyone to be very quiet and then she turned off all the lights and we got under tables and in the closet so nobody could see use from the hall.” Amy stopped talking. She looked up at Kevin. This part was harder to talk about.

“And then what happened?” prompted Kevin.

“I got scared,” said Amy. She took a big bite of ice cream. There was something she had to say but the words had not yet taken shaped fully in her mind. Finally, she said, “I couldn’t stop thinking about how my daddy was shot at work. And what if the bad guy came to my school and shot me too. And then the world got too small and I couldn’t breathe.” 

“That sounds really scary,” said Kevin. The affirmation that what she had gone through was scary made Amy feel better. 

“I miss my daddy,” said Amy.

“I know sweaty,” said Kevin. “I’m sorry.”

“But I am so glad you came to get me papa,” said Amy. It was like a switch had been flipped in her head. The man that was sitting before her who had once been Mr. Kevin had now become papa. As if the act of being there for her in a time of great need had changed something in Amy’s brain. Mr. Kevin had forever become papa.

“I’m glad you’re okay now,” said. Kevin. Then looking at his watch. “What do you think should we go pick up Rosa?”

“Yes of course we should,” said Amy giggling a little. 

“Amy you know you can tell me anything right?” asked Kevin.

“I know,” said Amy taking the last bite of ice cream. And she did. Amy found she felt truly comfortable with Kevin in a way she had not since her father Victor Santiago died. Kevin had truly become her father that afternoon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! please leave feedback (comments and or Kudos) if you wish. no pressure. The Episode in this Chapter is 116 "The Party" written by Gil Ozeri & Gabe Liedman.


	3. The one with Super Dan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amy and Rosa and Super Dan make three

It was talking to Rosa that finally convinced Amy to stop calling their dad by Mr. Raymond. They are lying in Rosa’s bed together like they do most nights. Amy is telling Rosa about how she had to go to the nurse’s office because she had something called a panic attack during the active shooter drill and how papa had come to pick her up when Rosa wonders something out loud.

“When did you stop calling papa Mr. Kevin?” asked Rosa.

“Just today,” says Amy. She hadn’t thought about it much. Years later she would look back on the moment that Mr. Kevin became papa and determine that it was because Kevin had come through for her in a way that had made her feel truly safe for the first time since her father died but as a five year old in bed with her sister all she had was that it felt like the right thing to do at the time.

“So, are you going to call dad, dad now instead of Mr. Ray?” asked Rosa.

“I don’t know,” said Amy. The question seemed to upset Amy a little so Rosa let it go. Rosa figured that Amy still found Raymond to be intimidating in a way that Kevin was not. Or maybe the problem was quite the opposite. Maybe Amy’s reluctance to call Raymond by more familiar terms was she was scared to get too close to him because he was too like her father. She might be scared that Ray would also be taken away from her.

“Amy what do you want to do when you grow up?” asked Rosa trying to cheer Amy up. She felt the mood in their room had gotten too heavy. Rosa did not like it when their nightly chats ended on a heavy note.

“A superhero who flies around saving people,” said Amy. Rosa could tell from the convention in her voice that Amy was serious about her choice. Rosa decided to be just as serious when asking her next question.

“And what would your superhero name be?” asked Rosa.

“Super Amy.”

“Super Amy can’t be your superhero name,” said Rosa very mater a fact.

“Why not?” asked Amy her eyes wide with curiosity.

“Well because it’s you real name,” said Rosa.

“Yeah that’s why my superhero name would be Super Amy cause that’s my name,” said Amy.

“No, no your superhero name has to be like _not_ your name that’s how it works. It has to be something cool, something awesome like… what are your superpowers?” asked Rosa.

“I would have the power to fly and be super strong,” said Amy.

“Well then your name should be something like Soaring Eagle or falcon or something like that, something intimidating” said Rosa.

“But I can’t fly in real life,” said Amy.

“Well I guess you’ll just have to learn,” said Rosa in a mock serious voice. Then she started to giggle. In no time at all both sisters were laughing.

“Girls, go to sleep,” comes the stern voice of Raymond. 

“Yes dad,” Rosa calls back. But she holds on to Amy’s hand as a signal to her to stay in bed. They aren’t done with their conversation yet. Rosa has so much more to say to Amy.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” asks Amy before Rosa can ask her next question.

Without think Rosa says, “I want to be a ballerina.” Rosa had just started dance lessons after begging her dads for months. She loved it. She was also very good at it. And one day she wanted to be a principal dancer in the Nutcracker. Amy was the only person in the world she felt comfortable telling this to, however.

“You can’t tell dad or even papa,” whispered Rosa.

“Why not?” asked Amy.

“I don’t know, because I feel like they might think it’s dumb.”

“Papa and Dad aren’t gonna think it’s dumb,” says Amy. She doesn’t realize she has said dad right away, neither did Rosa who was still thinking about how to explain to Amy why she didn’t want anyone to know about her dream to be a ballerina. She thought it had something to do with the fact that just because she was the best in her class didn’t mean she was _good._ Everyone else in her class could just be _bad._ And Kevin and Ray had such high standards. They always expected the best and sometimes Rosa felt as if her best would never be good enough. She didn’t think her parents meant to make her feel this way, but she did anyway. 

“But what if I’m not good enough?” asked Rosa.

“I sure you gonna be the best ballerina in the world,” said Amy.

“Thanks, Amy.”

The two girls laid in silence for a minute. Rosa had a burning question on her mind. But she was not quite sure yet if she should ask it. So, she settles on a question that feels less hard. “Is it ever odd to you that everyone in our family has a different last name?”

“Why would that be odd?” asked Amy.

“Well my last name is Diaz, yours is Santiago, Dad’s is Holt, and Papa’s is Cozner. Most families have one last name,” said Rosa. Rosa liked her last name. She thought that Rosa Diaz has a nice ring to it but sometimes she thought it would be nice if she had the same last name as her dads. She could be Rosa Diaz Cozner Holt. 

“Yeah, but four is better than one,” said Amy if it were the most natural conclusion. And maybe she had a point. This was their family, there was no need to be like other families. There was no need to be fixated with small things like no one having the same last name.

“Your right four is better than one,” said Rosa.

Names were not the things that bind families together reasoned Rosa. Dad, papa, Amy, and her all came from different places but now they shared something much stronger than the same name they shared mutual love and respect for each other. That is what mattered. 

******

When Super Dan first walked into the bullpen Rosa knew that it was going to be a long day. She had a mountain of paperwork. She knew the rules (always take a statement form any citizen that walks in) but there was no way that this tight and cape clad wackadoodle had anything useful to say. He had blue tape ‘SD’ on his yellow shirt. And frankly the guy needed a shower. But more importantly she and Amy had a huge case to work on. They had been working on the drug case for over three months and had made frustratingly little progress on it. 

“Excuse me are you a detective?” the wackadoodle said.

“Oh, uh, who’s asking?” asked Rosa as if she doesn’t already know it’s the man standing before her. Sometimes living in Brooklyn was not a positive thing. It takes everything she has not to just walk away.

“I’m Super Dan. Scourge of Brooklyn’s underworld, and I need to talk to an officer of the law,” said Supper Dan. This man is way to animated and Rosa doubts he has anything of use to say. She never trusts adults who like to play dress up. 

“I’m busy right now working on this… excuse. I think Santiago’s free,” said Rosa pointing to her sister who is trying to hide behind a case file.

“Hi, I’m Super Dan and I have a crime to report,” said Super Dan. Amy peeks her head above her file, Rosa almost laughs at the face she is making at the man standing before her.

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. I literary just retired. This is my retirement cake. Mmm. Thanks, you guys I’m gonna miss this place,” said Amy. Amy’s answer surprises Rosa a little bit. Her sister takes rules very seriously and normally would not blatantly brake one like she is doing right now. Not that Rosa blames her. 

“Why aren’t you guys taking me seriously?”

“Your cape and your tights, and your name is Super Dan, and I can kinda see your penis. And it’s just all a rich tapestry,” said Amy gesturing to well… everything. 

“Yeah well I’m a citizen. I’m from this neighborhood. The only reason I wear this costume is so that when I’m fight crime to help _you guys_ people will respect my authority,” said Super Dan.

“How’s that working out for you?” asked Rosa. Just then Terry comes up from behind Super Dan. He looks disappointed in both Amy and Rosa.

“Detectives when a citizen comes in from off the street it is NYPD policy to take a statement,” said Terry.

“This isn’t enough of a statement,” said Rosa gesturing at Super Dan. Terry shoots her a look before he ushers Super Dan toward Scully and Hitchcock. Rosa relaxes a little. Those two buffoons would take care of the brightly colored human joke. She feels only a little bit of guilt for not taking him seriously. Amy on the other hand looks like she actually feels bad, but it could be that she feels bad for disappointing Terry and not, not taking his statement. 

Rosa and Amy go back to work on their case and Super Dan was all but forgotten. It’s not strange to have weirdos walk into the prescient it happens all of the time, rarely do they make a lasting impression. Later that night Rosa and Amy would probably laugh about this whole thing together. But now she had paperwork to do. And the case to work on. Rosa secretly loved working on cases with Amy it reminds her of when they were little girls and would pretend to be detectives together.

“Hey, can I get your file on that Atlantic Avenue drug ring? Sarge gave me and Scully the case,” said Hitchcock with a giant smile on his face.

“What?!” said Rosa slapping Hitchcock on the face.

“Oh! Why did you do that?” asked Hitchcock. Rosa ignored him and walked over to Terry’s desk. There was no way in hell she was going to let this happen not after all the work that she and Amy had put into the case.

“Sarge, you reassigned our drug case? Diaz and I have been working on it for three months,” said Amy taking the words right out of her moth.

“Remember Super Dan? The guy you ignored and made fun of? He’s been perching on rooftops at night, secretly taking photo of drug deals. He has thousands of images and can I.D. the entire network of dealer,” said Terry.

“What?” said Rosa. 

“But you refused to take his statement because he had a cape on. Lucky Hitchcock and Scully didn’t mind,” said Terry.

“I didn’t even notice he was wearing a cape,” Scully chimed in.

“You’re a cop. You should have notice that,” said Amy to Scully. “We screwed up. Message received,” said Amy to Terry.

“Yep be nicer to virgins,” said Rosa.

“She doesn’t speak for me,” said Amy. 

“You’re not getting your case back,” said Terry.

‘So, it was like that.’ Thought Rosa. Her and Amy were going to have to come up with a plan to get their case back. For a brief moment Rosa thought about going over Terry’s head. But she knew that her dad would be so disappointed in both her and Amy for not following protocol. And while it stung to disappoint Terry it would kill her to have to face the disappointment of her father, but it would kill Amy first and she couldn’t have that. No, she had to prove to Sarge that they deserved the case, or at the very least that Hitchcock and Scully would fuck up the whole thing. Which they would.

Rosa pulled Amy into the evidence lockup where they could talk in private. She knows that Amy doesn’t like losing this case as much if not more than she did.

“We have to get our case back,” said Rosa.

“Well you could be better at acting sorry,” said Amy. And Rosa knows that Amy is right, but she really doesn’t want to say it.

“That’s your plan? Be nicer?” asks Rosa.

“Super Dan is… well… he’s… weird but he has the information we need for our case surly we can play nicely with him if it means taking down a drug ring?” Amy pleaded with Rosa.

“Okay fine, you’re right,” said Rosa.

“I’m sorry what did you say?” asked Amy.

“You heard me the first time,” said Rosa. So, this was their big plan: be nice and beg for their case back. Terry must know that Hitchcock and Scully could never solve this case they somehow missed the fact that the guy was wearing a cape. How they ever became detectives at all was a mystery to Rosa.

Rosa and Amy pulled Terry into the break room to talk. There was no way Terry would let Scully and Hitchcock keep the case indefinitely with so much at stake. 

“Sarge you made your point. We messed up. But this is a big case, and Hitchcock and Scully are gonna screw it up,”

“I’m sure they can handle it. They have a combined 50 years of experience,” said Terry.

“This morning I found Scully’s gun in the freezer, in the frozen yogurt. I think he was using it as a spoon,” said Amy.

“The truth is, I had to give ‘em the case. You insulted Super Dan. He refuses to cooperate with you,” said Terry.

“We weren’t that bad,” said Rosa.

“You told him his superpower was being so embarrassing that people laugh themselves to death,” said Terry.

Rosa chucked, “yeah.” 

An hour latter Rosa is sitting and taking Super Dan’s statement. She feels like it is never going to end, but Terry is right in between all of the nonsense there is a lot of helpful tidbits that would help to solve their case. This man might still like to dress up he might be friendless, but he has kept very thorough notes on the Atlantic Avenue drug dealers. And in the end when they bust them it will be all because of Super Dan. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading! please leave feedback (kudos and comments). This chapter I comes from Episode 117 Full Boyle written by Norm Hiscock.


	4. The One Where Everyone gets a STD but Rosa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosa punches a kid for making her baby sister cry.

Everyone knew that going to the tactical village was the best day of the year. Getting to try out new weapons and shot people with paint balls instead of doing actual work. It was a dream come true. Plus, there was the added bonus of having to ride a bus. At least there were no crying babies on the bus with them. At least Rosa could sit at the back of the bus and just watch her squad. Rosa loved people watching, and today she was very interested in what was happening with her sister and Peralta. It seemed to her that their flirtation had gone to the next level in the last couple of days and she was curious to see if anything came of it.

Peralta must have done something annoying because the next thing she knows Amy is walking to the back of the bus to talk to her. Most likely about Peralta which is mostly what Amy wants to talk about right now. Sometimes Rosa wants to shake some sense into her little sister. Both of them like, like each other they should just go out already. People made things more difficult for themselves way too often. Amy’s crush on Peralta seemed to spring up from nowhere though. Something must have happened on the fake date.

“Ugg, Peralta is being so weird, and flirty,” said Amy.

“ _He’s_ being weird and flirty?” asked Rosa in her most pointed voice. 

Amy clasp her head in her hands, “I feel like some dumb teenager,” she said.

“Normally I would agree, but you were way more awkward in high school,” said Rosa.

“I was. wasn’t I?” said Amy with a small laugh. 

“Girl you were a hot mess. Do you remember when that boy Eric liked you? And you… and you…” Rosa choked on a fit of laughter.

“Rosa! We agreed never talk about that,” said Amy hitting Rosa in the arm.

“I’m just saying you’re handling this better than when you were a high schooler,” said Rosa. “But if you like Jake you should just go for it,” she added.

“I’m not you. I don’t know how to just go for it. You make it look so easy,” said Amy.

“Well not everyone can be like me, because I’m awesome. But Jake likes you he’s just too dumb to do anything about it,” said Rosa.

Truth be told it might be a little weird if Amy dated Jake. Jake was a close friend of hers since they had gone to the academy together. Well as close as any of her non-family member coworkers were. She really liked and respected Jake. Plus, she thought that her up tight sister and childlike friend would do a lot to balance each other out. But the 9-9 would be weird if her father, her sister, and her sister boyfriend all worked with her. That would be a lot for one precinct to handle. It would almost be like being part of the mob. 

“Hey, is it going to be weird for you to go to Boyle’s wedding?” asked Amy.

“Why would it be weird?” asked Rosa.

“Well because he was in love with you,” said Amy.

“Oh yeah that was super annoying that man does not get a hint. But now that he’s in a new relationship and well except the last few days… which he become weird we’re becoming real friends,” said Rosa. The sisters sit in a comfortable silence after that. Rosa remembered back to when she had to turn Boyle down over and over. God she was so glad they were past that.

Terry seemed to be having a disagreement on the phone with his kids’ babysitter. “Okay Stella. All right. Oh, no, no problem. Okay all right bye. Damn! Our babysitter is busy the night of Boyle’s wedding. She’s gonna be in her high school’s talent show. Which she’s gonna lose unless her talent is leaving potato chip crumbs all over Terry’s couch,” said Terry.

“Wait, Boyle set a date already?” asked Rosa.

“Yeah he gave out save the dates yesterday. He didn’t give you one?” said Terry.

“I think he’s been avoiding me. He didn’t invite be to his wedding, and he’s scared like a little bitch,” said Rosa. 

“Well maybe Vivian was unconformable with you coming. Look Boyle was in love with you until a few weeks ago,” said Terry. Rosa walked past Terry. She was made at Boyle for not talking to her about the wedding, they were supposed to be friends, she thought that they were friends. Maybe she was wrong.

“Oh, don’t be angry,” said Terry.

“I’m not angry I think it’s funny. Hahahahahaha,” said Rosa. Well that sucked to know. Today was supposed to be fun, and Charles had to go and make it weird. She didn’t even know why it hurt so much to be not invited to his wedding, but it did.

When the 9-9 walked into the tactical village things got ... Rosa did even know how to catalog her feelings about what happened next. The 8-2 was there their competitors for the day and with them Teddy who had been transferred to the 8-2. Rosa did not have any strong feelings toward Teddy, but it seemed that Amy still liked him. God he was so boring it made Rosa want to shoot herself. But then Jake got all jealous of the attention that Amy was giving Teddy and things were sure to get interesting from there. Only it was a bit unconformable to witness two men fight for her little sister’s affection.

To make her day better Rosa decides to check out some cool new weapons. They were another perk of this day that did not include watching the mating dance for the affection of her little sister. The sound canon seemed like a good place to start. Then she saw her target. Boyle was the perfect person to try this new weapon out on until Terry ruined her fun.

“Okay I know your pissed at Boyle. But this is not how you deal with your anger,” said Terry.

“Look I get if Vivian doesn’t want me to come. But Boyle should have said something. Were supposed to be friends. We’re finally getting along,” said Rosa.

“Talk to him. That’s what friends do,” said Terry.

“Nope I’m gonna wait till I’m on my deathbed, get in the last word, then die immediately,” said Rosa. 

“That’s your plan for dealing with this?”

“That’s my plan for dealing with everything. I have 77 arguments I’m gonna win that way,” said Rosa.

“That seems like a bad plan,” said Terry.

“Now I have 78,” said Rosa.

Rosa walked away from Terry. She knew that he was right which just made her madder at him. God today was the worst. But then the day took an interesting turn. Jake who had been up to his normal childish antics got serious as soon as he learned that the 8-2 had beet the course record. So maybe his jealousy had some use after all. He even dropped the fake British accent. It was interesting to know that Jake liking her sister could lead to a slightly more grown up Jake. But then Terry being Terry made Rosa work with Boyle so they could talk, or whatever. 

But as usual Terry ended up being right. Being paired with Boyle helped remind Rosa that her relationship with Boyle was more important than her hurt feeling. Also, she had a dangerous job and could die at any moment. Boyle saving her from a paint-full death got her talking. And for the first time all day she felt the anger in her chest diminish. Why did it always have to be the simple solutions that worked. 

On the bus on way back Boyle set next to Rosa. “So, I just talked to Vivian. I told her I really want you to come to the wedding, and she said okay,” said Boyle handing Rosa a card.

“Thanks. I’m excited to go.” Rosa opened the card, on it was printed “STD”. “Also ‘STD’ stand for Sexually transmitted Disease,” said Rosa. Leave it to Boyle to find some way to fuck up his save the dates.

“That is correct. It is, however, very expensive to reprint those cards, so we’re leaning into it. Rosa Diaz will you accept my STD?” said Boyle.

“I look forward to having it forever,” said Rosa and she smiled.

*****

The words swirled in her head. Repeating over and over. ‘You’re not real sisters. You’re not even related.’ But they were, they were a real family. Nothing was more real to Rosa than the family that had been sewed together by her two fathers. She knew that the kid was wrong, but the words still hurt. But Rosa refused to cry. She would not let the punk kid know that he had hurt her feelings. Later she would cry about it but not now.

It had all started when she had intervened on the playground during the recess before school. Amy was being teased by two kids in her class, (Rosa remembered them from being in their kindergarten class). Amy was an easy target; she was younger than all her classmates because she had skipped a grade and she was a teacher’s pet, also she was small for her age. But nobody messed with Rosa’s little sister. Not even Dan Olsen the best wallball player in the school.

Dan wouldn’t leave Amy alone. Amy who was sitting at the edge of the playground on a bench reading a book. Dan had stolen her book and was playing keep away with his best friend Mikey. Poor Amy was desperately trying to get her book back, while fighting off tears. It didn’t help that it was a library book and the boys weren’t being careful not to bend pages. Already the cover had a huge rip in it. They were going to ruin her stellar record of returning books unharmed. Yelling this at them, however, was not making the teasing any better, on the contrary it was making it much worse. 

“You’re such a looser. All you do all day is kiss teacher’s butts,” said Dan with a sinker.

“Don’t ever talk to my sister like that,” said Rosa. She might think that Amy was a little too much of a teacher’s pet, but she would never let anyone talk to Amy like that. 

“Why do you care? She isn’t even your real sister,” said Dan.

“Yeah she’s not even related to you,” said Mikey.

“But she is my real sister,” said Rosa. Rosa was taken back by the boys’ comments. Amy had been her sister for two and half years now, longer than she had known Dan and Mikey. Also, she _was_ her real sister. 

“No, she’s not you have to be related to real sisters,” said Mikey. 

“Stop it!” yelled Amy. “Just give me my book back.” She grabbed for the book in Dan’s hand, but he held over his head. 

“Just admit you’re not real sisters because you’re not even related, and you can have your book back,” said Dan.

“But we are real sisters,” said Amy and she started to cry. This was the last straw for Rosa who punch Dan in the stomach and then pulled the book out of his hand and gave it back to Amy. Nobody was allowed to make Amy cry. Unfortunately for Rosa just as she did this a teacher happened to be walking past.

“Rosa Diaz! You will come with me at once!” said the teacher. “and you as well Dan.” Both Dan and Rosa followed Ms. Nussbaum to the Principal’s office. Rosa knew that she shouldn’t have punch Dan, but he had made Amy cry, which was unforgivable so she would take the consequences of her actions and later she would plot her revenge. The two children were set before the principal by Ms. Nussbaum.

“I saw Miss Diaz punch Mr. Olson in the stomach,” she said.

“I only punched him because he made my sister Amy cry,” said Rosa.

“That is no excuse,” said Ms. Nussbaum.

“I can handle this form here,” said Ms. Roux (the Principal) in a tone of voice that simultaneously meant please leave my office and I don’t much care for you. Ms. Nussbaum sighed but then she left, leaving just Rosa, Dan, and Ms. Roux. Ms. Roux turned to Rosa.

“Please explain to me exactly what happened,” said Ms. Roux.

“Hey! I’m the one who was punched!” said Dan.

“I gathered that, but now I want to hear Rosa’s side of the story. Then we will listen to your side,” said Ms. Roux. “Rosa why did you punch Dan? I want the whole story.”

“I was playing cowgirls and aliens with my friends when I saw Dan and Mikey teasing my little sister. So, I told them to cut it out. They had her library book. But then he made Amy cry and I hit him,” said Rosa. She left out all of the not being sisters’ part because she was afraid, she was going to cry if she told Ms. Roux about it.

“See that was easy. Now it’s your turn to tell your side of the story,” said Ms. Roux to Dan. Dan looked at his hands. There was no way for him to tell his story without having to admit to all the other things he had done. 

Finally, he looked up and said really quietly, “Mikey and me were just playing. I didn’t mean to make her cry. But she punched me!” said Dan pointing to Rosa. 

“Yes, and that was the wrong thing to do. It is never okay to use your fist to settle an argument. Both of you will help clean the cafeteria tables after lunch for a week, and I’ll will be calling your parents. Dan you may go. Rosa please stay,” said Ms. Roux. Dan left the office.

“Rosa, honey what did Dan say to make Amy cry?” asked Ms. Roux. 

“Mikey and Dan kept saying that we’re not real sisters. But we are, we are,” said Rosa. Her voice cracked.

“Well that was a sucky thing for them to say. I’ll talk to them,” said Ms. Roux. “But Rosa you have to learn to control your impulses, even if Amy starts to cry you cannot let your anger get to you,” said Ms. Roux. “Now get back to recess.”

When Rosa gets home, she doesn’t know what to expect. She knows that the school called her parents about the morning recess incident. The only thing that she doesn’t know is how mad her parents are going to be. She did punch a person which she knows is wrong but somehow, she cannot summons a guilty feeling. When Holt summons her into his office, she thought maybe she was going to get grounded. But when she walked into his office Holt looked more sad than mad. This was somehow worse. 

“Rosa, please have a seat,” said Holt. Rosa set in the chair that he indicated and looked down at her feet.

“I just want to start by saying that I’m not mad at you. I think one week of lunch cleanup is a fare punishment. But from now on you will when all arguments verbally. Is that understood?” asked Holt. Rosa could feel her shoulders relax. This was going a lot better than she thought it would go.

“Yes father,” said Rosa. Rosa looked up at her father. And for the first time in her memory she detected uncertainty in his face. It made her feel almost fear.

“There is something I need to tell you. But it’s hard for me. You know that our little family is different right?” asked Holt.

“I know that having two dads instead of a mom and a dad is different,” said Rosa.

“Yes, and there will be those who will dismiss our family as being not a real family because of this. This isn’t fair or right but it is the way things are. And we have to prove these people wrong not with our fist but by just living our lives the way we think is right. We will sometimes have to disregard the hurtful words as toxic nonsense. We cannot change everyone mind, but we can never use violence, ever, do you understand?” Holt asked.

“It seems so unfair,” said Rosa.

“It is unfair. But we have each other. You will never be alone,” said Holt.

She would never be alone because she had her dad and papa and Amy with her. Her family would be there with her navigating what it meant to not be a ‘typical’ family. It was unfair that Rosa had defend the legitimacy of her family but at very least she would never have to do it alone. She had a team that she trusted more than she trusted anything in the world. That is what mattered not the boys who had made her feel small on the pay ground. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! please leave feedback of any kind it helps. (only if you want) This episode is episode 119 Tactical Village which is written by Luke Del Tredici.


	5. the one where Amy breaks the rules and Boyle gets his heart broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter. For now.

Amy’s father was one of seven children, so Amy had many first cousins and Raymond and Kevin made it a point to make sure that Amy still had close relationships with her cousins and her paternal grandparents. On weekends Amy would often go over to her Abuelos house to play with her cousins. Amy and her cousins had all sorts of fun running around, roughhousing, and of course eating tons of Cuban food made by her Abuela. And always Rosa would come with her to the play-dates. Amy had insisted she be there. They were sisters now her cousins were Rosa’s cousins. Her Abuelos were Rosa’s Abuelos.

Rosa loved her new cousins and Abuelos. So, when Kevin and Ray went to Greece for two months during the summer, so Kevin could do research Rosa was excited to stay at her Abuelos house for three whole months. Their Abuelos house was in the south Bronx in a neighborhood where Spanish and English mix effortlessly. Summertime in the Bronx is unlike any other place in New York. Fire hydrant spout water that kids play in. BBQs happen at every street corner, and baseball was played in every park. And music played loudly until the wee hours of the morning.

The Santiago’s were very different form the Holt Cozner family. They were more openly affectionate as well as being more down to earth. Plus, their food was far more flavorful than Kevin’s and Raymond’s cooking. Cousins cycled in and out of the house giving Rosa and Amy a consent stream of playmates. But there was one cousin that neither Rosa nor Amy like very much. His name was David.

David was eight years old much like Rosa but like Amy he was going into the third grade so in theory they should have gotten on well but something about David just rub Rosa the wrong way. He was never interested in the games Rosa and Amy wanted to play and he’s always correcting them on things as if their imagination had to follow the same rules as the real world. Plus, he thought that he was a better dancer than Amy was which so was not true (they were equally bad at dancing). But David came over often, so Rosa felt her, and Amy should come up with a way to take him down a peg. She just had to figure out what scared David.

“Are you ready for a Sleuth Sister mission?” asked Rosa.

“Ooh yes! What’s our mission?” asked Amy.

“Operation make David look like a fool,” said Rosa.

“I think we need to come up with a better name,” said Amy. “And we’ll need many different color markers and maybe even a binder.” 

Rosa smiled. It was so like Amy to think they needed a binder. Her little sister was the planner and she was the doer most of the time. They balance each other out. The sisters got to work on their plan. Amy drew a flow chart (something she had learned from their dad) there was very little chance that their plan was going to fail. Rosa was in charge of the spiders while Amy was in charge of distracting the grownups. Now they just had to wait for the perfect opportunity. 

One Saturday near the end of their stay the whole family got together to celebrate the life of Victor Santiago’s. Three generations of Santiago’s all in the place. It would be lucky if no one ended up in the ER. Fourteen cousins ages twenty to two. The house was loud and joyful. It was the best kind of chaos. Amy and Rosa decide that they would carry out their plan before dinner when everyone was distracted so they wouldn’t get in trouble. Early in the morning before any came over Rosa crawled under the porch and picked out many rather large spiders and carefully placed them in an old fish tank, she had found with some grass in it.

Later that day David shrieked and ran out of the bathroom in to a crowed of concerned adults. Spiders had crawled out of the drain when he had turned on the sink to wash his hands. A swarm of adults were there to comfort him, but nobody could figure out how it had happened. Rosa had slipped into the bathroom in the confusion and removed the spiders. As no lasting damage happened and nobody was hurt the incident was laughed off and the festivity’s continued. But from that day forward David had the reputation for being a scaredy-cat which meant that the plan had work the way Amy and Rosa had wanted it to.

Later that night at a table (many tables pushed together) the family raised a glass to Victor. Today was a day to celebrate his life. It had been three years since he had died and now Amy could look back at his life and the good memories without getting super sad. Before anyone could eat a single bite Abuela always said a few words, tonight she would remember her son.

“Three years ago, we lost a son, a brother, an uncle, and a father. But Victor was never a man who spent time dwelling in the past when there was life to be lived today. And he was never absent from where a party was.” There was a murmur of laughter at that statement. 

“So, to honor his memory, today we remember his life not in sadness but in joyfulness. He died doing what he did best serving his community. And while I found his decision to join the NYPD confusing, I know that he worked every day to make the world around him better. To Victor,” Abuela said.

“To Victor,” repeated everyone.

“To family,” said Abuela.

“To family,” said everyone. Rosa looked at the people at the table with her. These people were her extended family. Her family was big and loud and messy. She might not like every one of them, but she did love them and that was enough to tie them to her and her to them. 

****

When Rosa found Charles in the closest, she knew she had to do something nice for him. He seemed so heartbroken and lost. Rosa knew that she could at least help out by giving him a private place to talk to Vivian. The only problem was that she needed to get Gina on board. She honesty didn’t think that Gina would agree without her Rosa style of persuasion. Threat of violence. Rosa had worked years to have an intimidating demeanor so people would believe the threats she would never deliver on. It was a hard line to walk.

Gina was playing games on her phone on the couch in the break room because she sees her job as optional. Rosa sighed. How Gina kept her job was a mystery to her, but Gina was her closet friend not related to her at the precinct, so she never questioned it.

“Hey! We need to tell Charles about Babylon. He needs a privet place to talk to Vivian,” said Rosa.

“What? No! Babylon is our secret place. It’s the best thing in my life, and I have a very full life. Do you know I know Papa John? The Papa John.”

“Someone is lying to you.”

“We can’t tell Charles. He’s incapable of keeping a secret,” said Gina.

“Look, we tell Charles about Babylon, or I shard you nap blanket into a million tiny rags,” said Rosa. This wasn’t a lie. But Rosa would most likely go out and buy a new one a few days later to make up for it.

“No, I love Wolfie. Fine! You Win! Tell Charles. Hold me close little wolfie. Hold me.”

With that settled Rosa leads Charles and Gina down to Babylon. This is the right thing to do. Babylon was for those who truly needed it. And Charles was going to need it if things continued the way they were. There was no way that he would be happy moving to Canada and Vivian was at the age where she knew what she wanted from life.

“Where are you taking me? You’re gonna beat me up, aren’t you?” asked Charles. Rosa answered him by moving the boxes out of the way to reveal Babylon a bathroom she discovered a few years ago. It was a nice bathroom that Rosa and Gina had slowly turned into a space of their own. Plus, it had excellent cell reception. But the best part of the bathroom was the triple-ply toilet paper. 

Rosa knew that when she showed Charles this bathroom that she was essentially telling everyone in the precinct because Charles was a notoriously bad secret keeper, but Babylon was for those who truly needed it and right now that was Charles. She hoped however that it would take longer than a day for Charles to break and tell someone, and she hoped that he would tell Jake. But at last that didn’t end up happing.

“Charles! What the fuck is wrong with you? You told Hitchcock and Scully?” whispered Gina. She was clearly struggling to keep her voice down.

“They were scary. It was like the moment in the ‘planet of the apes’ when the monkey talked. Look, I’m sorry. You let me into your special place. I messed up and I’ll fix it,” said Charles. Rosa could see from her desk that Gina was getting madder and madder by the second. Now seemed like a good time to step in and save Charles.

“It’s okay Charles you don’t have to,” said Rosa. 

“No, it’s not okay. Babylon hath fallen. Charles betrayed us and I will make him pay for it,” said Gina.

“Gina, enough. Boyle needed the bathroom, so we told him about it. Just like when I told you when you needed it? Leave him alone he saved my life.”

*****

(Flashback)

It happened so fast that Rosa’s brain hardly had time to process it. But one moment she was staring into the eyes of her would be killer and the next she was on the ground and Charles was screaming in pain. He must have pushed her out of the way; saving her life and in the process getting hurt. “We got him,” came through the radio. It was over and now they needed an ambulance stat. Rosa was not going to let the man who saved her life die. 

Later in the hospital after the adrenaline wore off Rosa went to the bathroom to cry. Just after she locked the stall door, the bathroom door opened. The sound of the steps was so familiar to her. They were her dad’s footsteps.

“Rosa? Is everything all right?” asked Holt.

“I’m fine, dad,” answered Rosa. “Tonight, has been a lot. I mean you almost died. And I almost died. I just need a minute to uh decompress. Is Charles gonna be okay,” asked Rosa. 

“Charles is going to be alright,” said Holt. “the bullets did not come near anything vital.”

“Well that’s a relief,” said Rosa.

“Also, Kevin call a ‘Sunday’ dinner for tomorrow night? Can you make it?” asked Holt.

Poor Kevin his husband and his child had both almost died in the same night. Sometimes Rosa felt a little bit guilty that Kevin had to deal with his whole family being in the police force.

“Yeah, I can make it,” said Rosa. 

*****

“Plus, he’s…pitiful. And his life is crap right now,” said Rosa.

“Thanks Rosa my life is pitiful,” said Boyle.

And that was that. Rosa would fix the Hitchcock and Scully problem and she would do it with the help of Boyle to show him how it was done. Not that Boyle would learn or every be able to learn the Rosa persuasion method patent pending.

Bathrooms would however not fix relationships in any permanent way. A week later Boyle and Vivian’s relationship was over. And Charles was not copping at all. All he was eating was eggs in their worst from hard boiled. And he was in all black. Something had to be done to help the poor guy out.

Gina, Terry and Scully were in the break room. Scully was useless but maybe the other two would be able to help her with Charles. Honestly Jake was his best friend, but Jake was preoccupied with problems of his own right now. Both personal and perennial.

“We have to help Charles. He’s devastated. I hate seeing him like this,” said Rosa.

“Breakups are cartoony thumbs down. They make people feel faces-with-Xs- for-the-eyes,” said Gina in her usual unhelpful way.

“What does that even mean?” asked Terry.

“The English language cannot fully capture the depth and complexity of my thoughts, so I’m incorporating emojis into my speech to better express myself. Winkey face,” said Gina.

“Oh lord,” said Rosa.

“Listen this is simple. Boyle needs a rebound nooky. Eggplant emoji. Rosa, you wanna get on that?” said Gina.

“Don’t, make me rip your tongue off,” said Rosa just as Captain Holt walked into the room.

“I would talk to him, but I don’t think I have any advice. All of my breakups have been completely mutual,” said Holt.

“Alright none of you are any help. Sarge and I will cheer up Charles,” said Rosa. She looked over to Boyle who was still eating eggs.

“Oh, he’s not even chewing them anymore,” said Rosa. 

Nothing that Rosa and Terry did helped Boyle in the slightest. In fact, it only seemed to make thing worse because now he had a burnt hand. And when things started to go sideways for Jake Charles became more pitiful. Rosa found him just lying on the ground. She let him talk to her for way too long just about Vivian’s lips. The man was broken, and it hurt to see him like this. 

And the whole Jake thing was… Rosa didn’t even know. She could tell that Amy was really struggling with it. Her internal GPS had been recalculating for days now. She had continued to investigate even though their father told her to stop, which worried Rosa. Which is why she was at Amy’s house the night before Jake’s hearing. Amy was frantically doing work she wasn’t supposed to be doing.

“I can’t believe I’m asking this, but are you sure you should be doing this? Dad was pretty firm on this case,” said Rosa.

“I know this is crazy, but I trust Jake on this one. He has built a good case. The evidence is more than circumstantial,” said Amy.

“Are you sure that it doesn’t have anything to do with the crush you have on Jake?” asked Rosa. 

“No! I don’t have a crush on Jake! I’m with Teddy, I love Teddy,” said Amy.

“Keep telling yourself that,” said Rosa.

“Anyway, Jake is right Wint is totally shady,” said Amy. “Dad is wrong, this case is worth pursuing.”

“Well okay if you believe that Wint is guilty of something then I support you. Do you want me to talk to dad for you?” asked Rosa.

“No I got this,” said Amy. “I think I have a lead that will make him see that Jake was right,” said Amy.

“Look at you, breaking rules. My baby sister has finally grown up,” said Rosa with a smile on her face. So, her little sister who always followed the rule was breaking a basic rule of being a police officer: follow direct orders from your captain. The commissioner had told Jake to back off and Amy had been told to back off by her father, and her captain and still she had pursued the case. It was not like Amy, but Rosa was proud of her.

The next day was… well chaos. Jake, Amy, and Holt were out trying to clear Jake’s name while Terry was trying to coach the rest of the team on how to stall. Rosa hope that the other three were doing better than Boyle, Terry and her because frankly listening to Boyle was pure torture. And when it came down to it, she was hopeless at stalling. Rosa Diaz said what she meant in as few words as she could, her dad had taught her that.

And then it didn’t end mattering because Peralta got fired on purpose so that he could join an FBI sting operation on one of the biggest crime families. Jake Peralta who she had known since their days at the academy got to go on a cool mission with the FBI. If Rosa was being honest, she was jealous of him. But she was also happy for him. She was going to miss him and his child like behavior as well.

She watched as he left with a box in his arms and got into the elevator. Rosa debated running after him for a minute and then the elevator door closed behind him. For a second she thought that she had lost her chance because Peralta would have no way staying in contact but then she remembered that the stairs were much faster than the elevator. She rushed down them. She got to the bottom seconds before Jake. When the doors opened Rosa pulled Jake into the stairwell.

“I’m gonna miss you,” said Rosa throwing her arms around Peralta.

“Aw you do care about me,” said Peralta.

“Tell anyone I did that, and I’ll rip your tongue out,” said Rosa.

“There’s the Rosa I know,” said Peralta.

“Look I think you should tell my Amy you like, like her, I know she’s with Teddy and your trying to do the honorable thing, but Amy deserves to know you’re an option,” said Rosa.

“But I’m not,” said Jake.

“You’re not gonna be away forever Jake,” said Rosa. “Tell her.”

Then she walked away and didn’t look back. Rosa was hoping that Peralta telling Amy that he liked her would wake her up to the fact that she was too good for Teddy. That it might be the safe choice, but it was not the right choice. She would have six months to stew with the information and make an informed decision when it came to Teddy. 

Jake must have told Amy that he like, like her because a half hour latter Amy shows up at her door. She was in a near state of panic. It was the type of panic that Amy reserved for romantic problems. Rosa knew it very well from her high school days.

“I with Teddy, Teddy is a nice guy, I mean his boring but nice, But Jake, Jake is Jake I like Jake but I work with Jake, and now Jake is gonna be away for who knows how long, and, and Teddy is so safe but Jake…” 

“Breathe, Amy,” said Rosa. Amy takes a big breath.

“What am I supposed to do?” asked Amy.

“Do you like being with Teddy? Because it sounds like you like Jake,” said Rosa.

“I like being with Teddy. But I have feeling for Jake. And now I don’t know what to do?” said Amy.

“Take some time see if your feelings are real while Peralta is gone.”

“And if they are real?” asked Amy

“I think you know the answer to that. Now let’s eat irresponsible amounts of ice cream and watch some Nancy Meyers movies,” said Rosa. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this fic. Please leave feedback. I will answer any and all comments. There are three episodes in this Chapter. Episode 121 Unsolvable written by Prentice Penny. Episode 122 Charges and Specs written by Gabe Liedman & Gil Ozeri. and the flashback is from episode 111 Christmas written by Dan Goor.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to leave feedback of all sorts. The episode in this Chapter is number 109 "Sal's Pizza". It is written by Lakshmi Sundaram.


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